Humidity will absolutely cause rapid rusting. Here in Florida, anything steel left in non-air-conditioned space rusts very rapidly.
I bought a 1973 Ron Cooper that looked almost new from the original owner in Arizona. One month in my garage solved the "looks like new" problem.
Louis "Rusty" Schulman Tampa, Florida
-----Original Message-----
>From: Jeff Dinsmore <Jeff@BeSeennow.com>
>Sent: Mar 29, 2007 3:42 PM
>To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>Subject: [CR]Humidity and steel bike storage
>
>I am discovering that the basement in my new house is not as dry as I
>had
>hoped. The bikes are all hanging so I am not afraid of direct water
>contact,
>but will extended storage in high ambient humidity put the steel bikes
>in
>jeopardy? In that vein, how much humidity is too much humidity? I will
>need
>to get this taken care of anyway, but in the mean time I was wondering
>what
>my exposure was. Anyone else find themselves in a similar situation?
>
>
>
>Jeff Dinsmore
>
>Westmont, NJ